Maybe they needed more room to work with. Maybe Logan Verax needed his back all the way against the wall.
Whatever it was, Ryle found a way on Friday night in Union.
The Raiders drove 74 yards in 2:23 for the game-winning score when Logan Verax hit Grady Reynolds for a six-yard touchdown and a 24-21 victory over Simon Kenton. The win clinched a Class 6A, 6th District title for Ryle.
“Senior year winning districts, I think sixth time in Ryle history, especially on a great game like that. Couldn’t ask for a better way to go out,” Verax said.
The Raiders had multiple chances prior to the game-winning drive. In fact, they had four drives in the second half that started in Simon Kenton territory. The result: just two Josh Line field goals.
That also meant Simon Kenton had ample opportunity to put the game away and not even needing a touchdown to do so. Leading 21-16 with 5:56 to play after a Line 36-yard field goal, the Pioneers had three possessions to close the game out.
“Our defense played really well, played their tail ends off and gave us so many chances,” Pioneers coach Roy Lucas said. “We just didn’t get it done offensively.”
But three straight three-and-outs means they were only able to run 2:22 off the clock, the last when they had possession with 3:44 remaining on their own 47 and Ryle having just one timeout left.
But a two-yard run was followed by a false start and then a run out-of-bounds and then a four-yard run. Punt team out and downed at the Raiders 26-yard line with 2:38 remaining.
“Logan plays better when he’s under pressure,” Raiders coach Mike Engler said. “There’s no one else I’d rather have in that situation. We practice the two-minute every single day in practice. Those scenarios we go through everyday in practice. You do that over and over again and the guys had confidence they were going to get it done. Even with Logan struggling with turnovers tonight, he still stepped up and made the plays when he had to.”
Verax and the offense had sputtered all half, only able to muster up three Line field goals from 33, 42 and 36 yards out. Line was just 24 hours removed from scoring two goals in the Raiders 6-0 state soccer quarterfinals victory over North Laurel.
“He’s got ice in his veins. He kicked one against Campbell County with no time on the clock to get us to overtime a couple weeks ago,” Engler said. “Anything inside 45, he’s money.”
Three pass plays quickly got the Raiders into Pioneers territory, the last a nine-yard out to Reynolds to the Simon Kenton 46. Two plays later and Ryle was suddenly facing a fourth and one, but Verax hit Gavin Lyons for a two-yard pass to extend the drive and their district title hopes.
After an incompletion, Verax hit Dylan Lee for 33 yards to the Simon Kenton 11. Another incompletion followed and then Landon Lorms was inches away from being the hero on the night, catching a pass and stretching the ball inches from the goal line for a first down and 21 seconds left on the clock.
A false start and then an incompletion followed leaving 18 seconds remaining. Verax then hit Reynolds, the tall target tight end crossing over the middle and catching the pass in the end zone.
“We lined it up, I knew it was a touchdown. It was wide open all night, we just didn’t have much time to throw it,” Reynolds said.
What looked like an identical play on the two-point conversion made it 24-21.
“I looked out there and saw they were bringing the house and knew it was going to be Grady or nobody,” Verax said. “Trusted Grady to be there and threw it as soon as he turned.”
Simon Kenton had one last chance, but quarterback Brady Lee was stripped on a scramble as he was getting ready to throw a long pass, the Pioneers hopeful of completing two Hail Mary’s in consecutive weeks, but it wouldn’t be the case Friday.
The Pioneers defense kept them ahead as long as they could, forcing three turnovers and returning an interception for a touchdown when Nathan Kitchens did so in the first half to give them a 14-7 lead. Two Lee touchdown passes, one to Tysin Weaver for 43 yards and one to Carter Blades for 39 yards accounted for their other scores.
Ryle’s defense was no slouch either, especially after the Lee touchdown pass to Blades with 3:23 left in the third quarter made it 21-10. From there, Ryle held Simon Kenton to 22 yards and two turnovers.
The Raiders struck first after a Dillon Smith interception put them on the positive side of the field. Verax hit Landon Lorms for a four-yard touchdown pass with 8:49 left in the first half. Simon Kenton scored 14 unanswered to take a 14-7 lead into the break, Weaver’s touchdown followed by Kitchens interception return coming just 39 seconds apart in the last two minutes of the half.
“We found our rhythm late in the first half and it was starting to click. We always trust what we do, thought it would come back again and we just couldn’t get it going. We couldn’t find that rhythm or a play to get us going and it didn’t happen tonight,” Lucas said.
Ryle finished with 353 yards, 328 of them through the air as Verax threw the ball 59 times. Reynolds was his top target, snagging 10 balls for 106 yards. Simon Kenton finished with 402 yards, a balanced attack reaching 213 rushing yards and 189 passing.
Durrell Turner finished with 159 yards on 35 carries, Lee completing 12-of-26 pass attempts, his top target Tysin Weaver with six catches for 80 yards. The Pioneers missed an extra point and 20-yard field goal attempt while the Raiders hit all three field goal attempts and two extra points.
Ryle plays at Dixie Heights in the regular season finale. Simon Kenton travels to Ashland Blazer.
The two also know their first round playoff opponent. Ryle will host Southern while Simon Kenton will host Fern Creek. Both of those contests will take place on Nov. 3.
“You just come back and play. Our kids have shown a lot of resolve and a lot of heart and a lot of comeback. We’ve played some bad first halves and turned it on in the second half and played better and tonight we just couldn’t find it. Our kids will come back, that’s what they’ve done all year,” Lucas said.
RAIDERS 24, PIONEERS 21
SIMON KENTON — 0-14-7-0 — 21
RYLE — 0-7-3-14 — 24
Scoring Plays
2nd Quarter
(R) Verax 4-yard pass to Lorms (8:49) Line kick
(SK) Lee 43-yard pass to Weaver (1:46) Kick blocked
(SK) Kitchens 60-yard interception return (1:07) Turner run
3rd Quarter
(R) Line 33-yard FG (9:00)
(SK) Lee 39-yard pass to Blades (3:23) Garnett kick
4th Quarter
(R) Line 42-yard FG (8:57)
(R) Line 36-yard FG (5:56)
(R) Verax 6-yard pass to Reynolds (:15)
Game Stats
Passing Yards: Simon Kenton 189 (Lee 12/26), Ryle 328 (Verax 32/59)
Rushing Yards: Simon Kenton 213 (Turner 35-159, Lee 17-54), Ryle 25 (Savage 7-35, Lyons 3-8, Galicia 1-3, Verax 10-(-)22)
Receiving: Simon Kenton (Weaver 6-80, Blades 1-39, Harris 4-35, Kitchens 1-35), Ryle (Reynolds 10-106, Lorms 9-54, G. Lyons 2-18, Hayes 5-58, Lee 5-49, Galicia 1-1, Savage 2-13, D. Lyons 1-28)
Turnovers: Simon Kenton 4, Ryle 3
Penalties: Simon Kenton 8-71, Ryle 6-40
Records: Simon Kenton (5-3, 2-1), Ryle (5-4, 3-0)